If you don’t know Rocket Internet, you should. This German startup incubator, founded by the famous Samwer Brothers, has a knack for copying business models from Silicon Valley and replicating them successfully elsewhere.
Now, they are conquering Southeast Asia.
SGE got wind from Raphael Strauch, managing director of Rocket Internet, that they have started Zalora.com, a Zappos clone, in Malaysia and Singapore. Zalora is an online fashion retailer that stocks clothing and accesories from indie brands around the region.
Besides an online fashion business spanning the region, a check with various online recruitment sites has revealed that Rocket Internet is also embarking on an online food delivery venture and a furniture business called Home24.sg. Raphael declined to reveal more details at the point of time.
What we do know is that the company has embarked on a massive recruitment drive in Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia, with the aim of taking Southeast Asia’s online retail market by storm, as their job ads put it.
Based on what we’ve seen, the company is in the midst of creating multiple localized e-commerce websites utilizing a common logistical and operational backbone, each focusing on different verticals. Read more
So you’re an aspiring entrepreneur looking to step up a blogshop selling apparel, shoes, catfood, or anything your awesome mind can conjure up. You’ll be happy to know that LiveJournal and Blogger, trusty old venerables in Internet time, are no longer your only options — a new kid on the block has arrived.
The EZ Suite is a new website creation tool by PayPal and Singapore Post that’s built from the ground up for e-commerce. Available only in Singapore at the moment, it is targeted at startup founders with lots of passion but little technical know-how, and its interface is designed for ease of use with step-by-step instructions and illustrations. The whole process of stepping up shop is broken into six distinct steps, ensuring that you don’t miss out on crucial bits. Read more
Did you know? is a project targeted at spreading the spirit of entrepreneurship through sharing success stories about entrepreneurs in Singapore. It was done by five youthful individuals, Grace, Kimberly, Ki Wan, Siyu and Yiyuan who are deeply interested in entrepreneurship. This video is republished with permission.
For more SGE content on fashion blogshops, click here.
LiveJournal, one of the most popular blogging platforms in the world, has just launched their new Singapore startpage (livejournal.sg) on August 5. The actual site will go live sometime the following week. Read more
Paying heed to the following advice could stop your business from ending up like Borders -- bankrupt. Photo: ChicagoGeek
Don’t count on renting a storefront to revive the flagging sales for your online business and compensate for a weak business model: You might end up digging yourself a bigger hole. Rather, going retail may be prudent only if your online business is doing very well. Read more
It turns out that not all of Nanyang Technological University‘s top five recent graduates in 2011 are the high-flying investment banking types. In fact, two of them are entrepreneurs who started their businesses while in university, reported Singapore tabloid The New Paper.
The first is Lester Lin, 25, a chemical and bioengineering graduate who founded Science Hub, an enrichment center for primary school kids, in 2008. The second is Tan Yi Fong, 23, a married young mother, who started online fashion stores Ministry of Retail in 2009 and Creme & Co this year (she and her husband were interviewed in this SGE story).
Both entrepreneurs earn about S$12,000 (US$9,955) a month, while the top earner, who works in the finance sector, rakes in some S$20,000 (US$16,591).
Generation Blogshop has come of age. While hundreds, if not thousands of garishly designed and brashly-colored blogshops have arrived and died, many online retailers have done well enough to venture into brick and mortar stores. Read more
Dealing virtually with clients does not mean that Min does not try to add a personal touch to the interaction. Always typing and responding to emails from clients with a smile on her face, Min believes that these smiles can be subtly communicated through text. We listen to Min as she speaks about Little Red Heels, an online blogshop that she started with her friend. Read more
With a few thousand blogshops in Singapore alone, it’s hard to stand out from the crowd. Tracyeinny manages to do that and is now one of the more popular blogshops in Singapore. We hear from one of the co-founders, Jeannie Pang and hear her thoughts on the business behind Tracyeinny.
What is Tracyeinny?
Tracyeinny offers women apparel that is inspired by the moment and inspired by our passion. It is a joint partnership between two cousins: Jeannie Pang and Pamela Goi. Both are graduates and doing this full-time.
Are all your items are designed and manufactured by Tracyeinny?
Currently we don’t design or manufacture our products ourselves. In an average month, we churn out about 200-250 designs. We try to update two collections in a week and each collection has about 30-40 designs. Read more
With a few thousand blogshops in Singapore alone, it’s hard to stand out from the crowd. Tracyeinny manages to do that and is now one of the more popular blogshops in Singapore. We hear from one of the co-founders, Jeannie Pang and hear her thoughts on the business behind Tracyeinny.
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